Baseball

Ivy covered walls.

Day baseball.

Ernie Banks and “Let’s play two.”

Harry Carey and “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.”

Yesterday, in their fourth Spring Training game, the New York Yankees lost to the Toronto Blue Jays.

Brett Gardner started in left field.

In his first plate appearance, Gardner hit a hard ground ball to Lyle Overbay at first base for Toronto. The ball was hit so hard and so directly at Overbay that he was able to turn it into a tricky 3-6-1 double play even with the incredibly fast Gardner running to first.

In his only other time to the plate, Gardner showed great patience and worked a walk.

Three of the greatest pitchers in New York Yankee history have a lot in common.

Whitey Ford, Ron Guidry, and Mariano Rivera each were great.

Ford is in the Hall of Fame, Rivera is a lock for it, and Guidry would have made the Hall if injuries had not shortened his career.

Number 16 is permanently attached to the wall in Monument Park in Yankee Stadium.

So is Number 49.

Number 42 will be there as soon as he retires.

All three of these guys were big game pitchers.

All three of them played their entire careers only with the Yankees.

Say what you want about the Yankees.

You can say they buy all their players.

You can say that any team could be successful if they broke the bank every season like the Yankees.

However, you would be wrong.

Because just like the "underdog" Rays, Marlins, and Twins, the Yankees also develop talent.

Outfielder Jordan Brown will need arthroscopic surgery to repair a tear in his meniscus in his right knee. Jordan will likely miss four to eight weeks, and any shot that he had of making the Indians has gone right out the window.

I'm concluding my look at the four AL West bullpens with Texas. Inside are analyses of 13 relievers (there's a lot of competition for relief slots):

Frank Francisco
Neftali Feliz
Darren O'Day
Darren Oliver
C.J. Wilson
Chris Ray
Ben Snyder
Dustin Nippert
Brandon McCarthy
Geoff Geary
Warner Madrigal
Willie Eyre
Clay Rapada

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During the off-season, Sox GM Theo Epstein shaped the 2010 club by trading hitting for pitching and defense. Offensive producers OF Jason Bay and 3B Mike Lowell were subtracted from the lineup and replaced with defensive standouts OF Mike Cameron and 3B Adrian Beltre. The money saved by not re-signing Bay was re-directed to acquiring free agent pitcher John Lackey.

The theory behind the moves was that the ballclub can win as many (or more) games as a result of improved run prevention as it can by maintaining the former level of run production.

With spring training officially on its way, the offseason, for the most part, is officially done. Sure, there are some lingering free agents out there and perhaps some late-additions to the Giants roster could (but shouldn't) happen, but for the most part, the Giants seem pretty much set with their roster as they head into the 2010 season, which begins in less than a month.

That being said, the most widely asked question by Giants fans (other than how the Giants are going to do in 2010, of course) has to be this:

How did the Giants do this offseason?

This article was originally published at TheDailyCub.com , a blog dedicated to giving you quality Cubs content.

The Cubs were pretty quite this past off-season. They didn’t make too many moves, and the ones that they did make were more to sure up the bench rather than to provide a punch to the lineup.

Just two seasons ago, the Brewers were loaded with outfielders both on the roster and in their minor league system. They had names like Braun, Cameron, Hart, Gwynn Jr., and Gabe Gross on the roster.

In just two years time, the outfield has seen a major overhaul. Mike Cameron was allowed to leave via free agency this winter, Tony Gwynn Jr. was traded for Jody Gerut, and Gross was dealt as well.